Not Again
by Meowser Clancy
Summary: It couldn't be happening. Not again. Not to his baby girl. Derek and Penelope talk to Hotch about the Dirty Dozen. Post-Ep for 11x07: Target Rich. SPOILERS for the episode.


Tag to Season 11, Episode 7: Target Rich.

* * *

"You can't stop them, Derek. No one can stop them," Penelope said, trembling. "Derek..." She trailed off and Derek tightened his arms around her.

This wasn't happening. Not to his baby girl. Not again.

"It's okay," he soothed. "It's okay. We're going to go talk to Hotch about this, okay? We're gonna get this all cleared up."

"I'm not ready to talk to him yet," Penelope said. "Can you just stay with me another minute?" Her voice broke and Derek's heart broke with it.

She pressed her face into his shoulder, and he felt her tears as they dampened his shirt.

"I wanted...I wanted to be celebrating with Jayje right now," Penelope whispered. "I was...I was thinking about how I'd go home with her and say hello to Michael and Henry and then..." She was shaking, clutching him to her. "It _sucks_."

"It does," he said, and tightened his arms around her. "But we're going to make it through. I promise."

They stayed there, in the dark, for a long time. Derek held her close until she stopped crying.

"I think I'm ready now," Penelope whispered. "We can go tell Hotch now."

He helped her to her feet, and she walked along with him to her desk, grabbing a facial tissue from her custom Sherlock tissue box cover and blowing her nose, hard. She stayed there for a moment, taking a few more tissues to wipe her tears away.

"Okay," Penelope said, clearing her throat with ceremony. "Okay. Here we go." In the dark room, she looked at him and he took her hand again without her asking for it.

They went to Hotch's office together, staying close.

He was still in his office, though the case was long over. Derek stopped for a moment because Penelope had stopped and he was waiting for her to be ready.

"You don't have to come with me," she whispered. "Hotch will be kind."

"But do you want me to?" Derek asked.

"I do," she whispered again, her voice even quieter and she squeezed his hand, tight. "Thank you."

He wanted to tell her she had no reason to thank him. He'd always be there for her and it was just a waste of words. Instead, he turned the knob on Hotch's door and they walked in together.

"Hey, Morgan...Garcia," Hotch said, glancing up quickly to see them but the smile on his face turned to a frown when he saw Garcia's blotchy face. He immediately dropped his pen and shoved the case files away from him, as if physically clearing space on his desk would also clear space in his mind to hear what they had to say. "What's wrong?"

"I kind of discovered something," Garcia said. "You told me to...investigate the Dirty Dozen. So I did." She sniffled a bit and Hotch tensed, as if ready to stand up to give her comfort.

"What did you find out?" Hotch asked, still tense, steepling his hands underneath his chin.

"That it's me," Garcia said, her voice breaking. "Um...I explained it to Derek so he's gonna explain it now cause I don't think I can talk clearly anymore."

Derek immediately took over talking, explaining everything that Garcia had told him.

Hotch listened intently, but he watched Garcia as Derek spoke.

"Sit down," he said, when Derek finished and Garcia did so. Derek remained standing, one hand on her shoulder.

"This is a lot to process," Hotch said honestly. "And there's so many things that have been happening..."

"What other things?" Garcia asked, startling.

"Reid is taking time off to see his mother," Hotch said. "He was just in here before you guys came in."

Derek blinked. "What? But I thought...I should have seen it." He shoved his hands in his pockets, suddenly realizing that there were other people he needed to be talking to right now and suddenly there was just too much going on, even for him.

"Go, talk to him," Garcia urged. "Maybe he hasn't left yet."

Derek hesitated and looked at Hotch.

"He left just seconds before you came in," Hotch said. "It's worth a try."

Garcia smiled at him, the tears still in her eyes, but Derek could tell that she was okay now. He could leave her with Hotch now.

"I'll just go see," he said and left in a hurry, looking for the younger man.

"Hey, Anderson, did Reid leave already?" He called to the other agent.

"I saw him go to the elevators just a second ago," Anderson replied and Derek nodded, breaking into a jog.

It was too late. The elevator opened immediately when he pressed the button, meaning that there had been enough time for Reid to go down to the bottom and for it to travel up again.

Damn.

Derek leaned against the wall, feeling it all come crashing around him.

His friends were hurting. He had to help them.

But even supermen take a hit. Derek hated to admit it, but he'd failed his team.

* * *

A/N: God, this episode was amazing! I couldn't believe all of the post ep tags I got inspiration for! Believe me, this is the first of at least three.

I will also have Reid talking to Hotch and a bit more with Joy and Rossi. And maybe even a bit for JJ at the beginning. I loved that scene.

And of course I don't think Derek failed his team at all. That's just our Superman beating himself up a bit.


End file.
